House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer said Monday that lawmakers should set aside any calls for a new “big deal” on budget issues and set their sights on near-term, achievable goals to set a foundation for broader action in the future on fiscal issues.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer called on Congress Monday to lay the “groundwork” for a budget “grand bargain,” warning that a failure to do so risks upending the United State’s status as the world’s premier economic power.

As any family or business owner in America can attest, willfully failing to pay bills on time is a recipe for disaster that can precipitate financial ruin. Yet, that is exactly what Congress is on track to do with America’s finances unless it acts right away to avoid a catastrophic default.

On Tuesday, President Obama stood before Congress and the American people to deliver a message of optimism borne from the progress we have made over the past five years recovering our economy from the Great Recession.

Beginning today, millions of Americans — and hundreds of thousands of Marylanders — who could not afford health insurance, or didn't have access to it, will finally be able to sign up for coverage through health marketplaces like the Maryland Health Connection.

In April, the sequester that had flown under the radar for most Americans at last entered the public spotlight. As cuts led to furloughs for air traffic controllers and other FAA personnel, flight delays frustrated passengers across the country.

In what is likely to be the latest installment in a tragic budgetary trilogy, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on Tuesday will introduce a Republican budget proposal for fiscal year 2014 that purports to balance within ten years. While an improved economic outlook and new revenue from the fiscal cliff deal make the task of balancing the budget somewhat easier, this plan, much like Ryan’s previous budgets, is expected to rely on spurious budget trickery to reach its goal.

An arbitrary and irrational series of automatic budget cuts, also known as sequestration, are set to take effect Friday unless Congress acts immediately. While House and Senate Democrats have proposed serious alternatives to the cuts that employ a balanced approach, many Republicans continue to push the severe spending-cuts-only formula as the only viable solution to our deficit problem.

Four years ago, President Obama took office against a backdrop of severe job losses, an auto industry on the brink of collapse and a housing market shaken by a foreclosure crisis. The very foundations of the American Dream appeared to be faltering. As he stood to address an anxious nation, our new president declared that “the state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift.”

Wanted to make sure you saw today's op-ed by Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) and House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX) in Politico about the need for a balanced solution to our deficits. To read the op-ed, click here or see below:

With Congress set to go home this week to focus on the upcoming election, Republicans in control of the House are leaving behind a long list of unfinished business. After two years in charge, House Republicans have not taken action on comprehensive jobs legislation to get Americans back to work, they have not prevented a tax increase on middle-class families, they have not worked to enact a big and balanced plan to reduce the deficit and turn off the sequester, and they have not passed major legislation, including a farm bill, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, or postal reform. Having racked up a dismal record as the “Do Nothing Republican Congress,” their failure even to try addressing the serious challenges we face as a nation has been strikingly disappointing.

Wanted to make sure you saw today's op-ed by Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) and Ranking Member of the House Administration Committee Robert Brady (PA) in the Huffington Post about the importance of the Election Assistance Commission. To read the op-ed, click here or see below:

Wanted to make sure you saw today's op-ed by Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) in the Huffington Post about how innovation is a key part of House Democrats' Make It In America plan. To read the op-ed, click here or see below:

Democrats introduced a comprehensive jobs plan two years ago to get more Americans back to work by creating the right conditions for manufacturing businesses to invest, expand and hire. Our plan, called “Make It in America,” aims to revitalize our manufacturing sector in order to increase economic competitiveness and create jobs that won’t be shipped overseas.

Etched into the base of Google’s new wireless home media player that was introduced on Wednesday is its most intriguing feature. On the underside there is a simple laser-etched inscription: “Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.”

Throughout our history, the most fundamental safeguard of liberty, equality and opportunity has always been the right to vote. Whenever that right was denied, Americans banded together to demand full inclusion in our democracy, from the rousing addresses of Maryland’s own Frederick Douglass to the marches for women’s suffrage, culminating with the Freedom Rides of the 1960s. Today, with a pivotal election just six months away, the right to vote is once again under threat from Republican-controlled state legislatures seeking to restrict access to the ballot.